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As the Trump administration pushes lawmakers and regulators to develop clear regulatory frameworks, a former Chainlink executive has joined the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Crypto Task Force as its new legal chief.

SEC Appoints New Crypto Task Force Legal Advisor

On Monday, Chainlink’s social media announced Taylor Lindman’s departure from the company to join the SEC’s Crypto Task Force as its Chief Counsel. The executive worked at Chainlink Labs for 5 years, where he held several senior legal positions, including Deputy General Counsel.

In an X post, the company thanked Lindman for his service, affirming that it looks forward to “modernizing the U.S. financial system together, taking it to the next level of its development and rapid growth.”

The former Chainlink executive will replace Michael Selig, who was appointed Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in December 2025. He will serve as the Crypto Task Force’s new senior legal advisor, ensuring compliance, risk management, and guiding legal interpretation.

Following the departure of Gary Gensler, the SEC’s former acting chairman, Mark Uyeda, established the Crypto Task Force to review the agency’s approach to digital assets and to develop a clear, comprehensive regulatory framework.

Since its launch, the task force has held multiple roundtable events to engage with industry leaders and discuss different aspects of the sector’s regulation, including tokenization, DeFi, financial surveillance, and privacy.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who also leads the task force, confirmed the news, welcoming Lindman in an X post. “Welcome to our new Crypto Task Force Chief Counsel, Taylor Lindman, who joined the SEC today. I predict great things!” the post reads.

SEC To Advance Digital Asset Regulation

Last week, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins shared how the agency plans advance digital assets regulation this year. Speaking at ETH Denver alongside Commissioner Peirce, Atkins affirmed that the Commission would move forward with its regulatory work through Project Crypto, which was recently relaunched as a joint initiative with the CFTC.

He noted that the two Commissions are “planning great things together – harmonization, joint rulemaking – a common, coordinated approach unlike anything seen before at these two, often sparring agencies.”

As reported by Bitcoinist, the sister agencies partnered to advance a clear crypto asset taxonomy, clarify jurisdictional lines, remove duplicative compliance requirements, and reduce regulatory fragmentation.

In addition, he announced that in the coming months, the agency will review multiple initiatives, including a Commission framework “to explain how we think about crypto assets that are subject to an investment contract.”

In addition, they will consider an innovation exemption for firms to facilitate limited trading of certain tokenized securities on novel platforms; no-action letters and exemptive orders to provide additional clarity; rulemaking on custody of non-security digital assets, such as payment stablecoins, by broker-dealers; and a transfer agent modernization rulemaking, which will “accommodate the role that blockchain can play in recordkeeping.”

Earlier this month, Atkins also outlined the SEC’s plan to develop formal guidance on token classification. At a House Financial Services Committee hearing, the chairman noted that regulatory clarity for crypto assets is “long overdue,” emphasizing that a comprehensive federal framework, such as the market structure bill, would be needed to offer long-lasting rulemaking that can’t be easily changed.

“Under Commissioner Hester Peirce’s leadership of our Crypto Task Force, SEC staff has provided more clarity in the past year than in the prior decade, but there is no action we can take that future-proofs our rulebook more formidably than nonpartisan market structure legislation,” he stated.

The market for XRP ETFs has already secured full approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with six products now managing more than $1 billion in combined assets. Yet one major player remains absent: BlackRock. 

According to Canary Capital Chief Executive Officer Steven McClurg, that may not last forever. He believes the world’s largest asset manager could file for a spot XRP ETF by late 2026 or early 2027, assuming current trends continue.

XRP ETF Assets Must Hit $3B Before BlackRock Moves

As noted by market expert Sam Daodu in a Tuesday report, assets in XRP-linked ETFs climbed to a peak of $1.6 billion in January before experiencing approximately $500 million in outflows, bringing total assets back to around $1 billion. 

According to McClurg’s outlook, BlackRock is unlikely to move unless certain market signals become undeniable. One of the clearest indicators would be sustained growth in existing XRP ETF assets. 

While assets peaked at $1.6 billion in January 2026 and have since settled near $1 billion, a rise toward $3 billion or more would demonstrate robust and durable demand. 

Canary’s CEO asserts that BlackRock pays close attention to market capitalization and investor appetite. If current XRP ETFs were to triple in size, the commercial rationale for launching a competing product would become far more compelling.

Competitive dynamics could also accelerate the timeline. BlackRock is not typically the first to enter a new segment, but it rarely allows rivals to dominate uncontested. 

McClurg noted that it may not be long before BlackRock feels pressure to respond if another large firm files for a spot XRP ETF. A rival’s move could force BlackRock’s hand sooner than its current projected window.

Perhaps the most decisive factor would be demand from institutional clients. If state pension funds, university endowments or sovereign wealth funds begin allocating XRP within their approved asset classes, that shift would likely serve as a clear signal. 

Ripple Connection

Notably, BlackRock’s relationship with Ripple’s broader ecosystem may already be closer than many assume. The firm’s tokenized treasury fund, BUIDL, utilizes Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral. 

That integration suggests a degree of familiarity and comfort with Ripple-linked infrastructure, even in the absence of an XRP ETF. Such ties could potentially shorten the distance between monitoring the market and formally entering it, should demand accelerate.

For now, BlackRock remains on the sidelines of the XRP ETF space. Whether it steps in by late 2026, in 2027, or further down the road will likely depend on one central factor: whether institutional demand grows strong enough to make staying out the greater risk.

As of this writing, XRP was trading at $1.34, marking an 8% drop over the past week. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Парламент Южной Кореи начал рассматривать законопроект, обязывающий блогеров, рекламирующих цифровые активы, раскрывать сведения о своих криптовалютных портфелях и сумме вознаграждения, полученного за продвижение цифровых активов.

MoneyGram has joined Midnight’s launch-phase infrastructure as a federated node operator, adding a major cross-border payments brand to the Cardano based privacy-focused network’s initial mainnet cohort ahead of a planned March launch. The move matters because Cardano’s Midnight is explicitly positioning its early validator set around operators with compliance-heavy, always-on production experience rather than crypto-native firms alone.

In a February 24 update, the Midnight Foundation said the network is expanding its federated node operator roster during the Kūkolu phase of its roadmap, a stage designed to prioritize coordinated participation and operational stability as mainnet goes live. MoneyGram was announced alongside Pairpoint by Vodafone and eToro, building on previously named partners that include Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Shielded Technologies, and AlphaTON. The announcement adds to the institutional profile of the Cardano-linked privacy network ahead of launch.

Why MoneyGram Matters For Cardano’s Midnight

Midnight describes MoneyGram as a cross-border digital P2P payments leader operating in more than 200 countries and territories. Beyond simply running a node, the Foundation said the two organizations are also exploring how established payment networks could move onto blockchain rails while preserving regulatory trust. The specific focus is on confidential transactions where settlement can function as verifiable proof of compliance without exposing sensitive user data.

Luke Tuttle, MoneyGram’s chief product and technology officer, framed the move as a continuation of the company’s existing crypto strategy rather than a new experiment. “MoneyGram has been delivering real-world crypto solutions for years, focusing on making the benefits of digital finance accessible to the people who actually need them,” Tuttle said. “Working with Midnight and running blockchain nodes fits naturally into this strategy, allowing us to help ensure that privacy, compliance and reliability are built in from day one.”

The Foundation’s announcement repeatedly ties the federated model to launch reliability. Its argument is straightforward: operators that already manage high-volume, mission-critical systems in payments, telecom and regulated fintech are better suited to support early mainnet performance while developers begin deploying privacy-preserving applications. Midnight also says this phase is part of a longer path toward community-driven decentralization, not the endpoint.

That framing comes through clearly in comments from both eToro and the Foundation. eToro Chief Blockchain Officer Omri Ross said, “We were excited to learn about Midnight’s novel approach to programmable data protection and selective disclosure, designed to balance user confidentiality with regulatory compliance. We believe technologies enabling granular control over data visibility will be foundational to the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. Midnight’s architecture for confidential smart contracts with built-in verifiability aligns with our long-term view that, over time, all asset classes will increasingly move on-chain.”

Midnight Foundation President Fahmi Syed made the same point in more strategic terms, arguing the mix of operators itself is the signal. “When a global payments network, a leading technology company backed by a Fortune 500 telco, and a publicly traded fintech all choose to operate nodes on the same privacy-enhancing blockchain, that tells you where this industry is heading,” Syed said, adding that the consortium is only the beginning.

At press time, Cardano traded at $0.2649.

Злоумышленники запустили фейковую рекламу в Facebook, которая маскируется под обновление Windows 11 и приводит к краже данных криптовалютных кошельков, сообщили аналитики компании Malwarebytes.

The likelihood that the long‑awaited crypto market structure legislation, known as the CLARITY Act, will become law this year has fallen sharply over the past 24 hours, according to data from prediction platform Polymarket. 

Traders now assign the bill a 42% chance of passing in 2026, reflecting growing skepticism that ongoing negotiations between the crypto industry and the banking sector will produce a breakthrough in time.

Crypto And Banks Remain Divided

The drop in confidence comes despite months of high-level discussions at the White House. Lawmakers and industry representatives have been attempting to build consensus around a broader market structure framework. 

However, three key White House meetings between crypto firms and banking representatives have yet to yield a final agreement. Even so, public messaging from officials has remained upbeat. 

As Bitcoinist reported last week, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, described the latest round of talks as “a big step forward.” “We’re close,” Witt wrote, adding that if both sides continue negotiating in good faith, he expects the administration’s March 1 deadline to be met.

At the center of the discussions is draft legislative language designed to address concerns raised by banks in a document titled “Yield and Interest Prohibition Principles.” 

While the proposed text acknowledges the banking sector’s objections, it also makes clear that any restrictions on crypto rewards programs would be narrowly tailored. 

One significant outcome of the negotiations is that paying yield on idle stablecoin balances — a major objective for many crypto firms — is effectively off the table. 

Instead, the debate has shifted toward whether companies should be permitted to offer rewards tied to specific user activities rather than simple account balances.

How New Rules Could Change Bitcoin Derivatives Markets

Beyond the political back‑and‑forth, market expert MartyParty recently highlighted potential structural shifts that could follow the bill’s passage, arguing that the changes may be more significant than many investors realize.

In the Bitcoin (BTC) futures market, clearer jurisdictional boundaries would likely cement the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) authority over digital asset commodities. 

The expert believes that could accelerate the growth of regulated US trading venues, similar to CME, and potentially open the door to CFTC‑registered perpetual futures platforms. 

According to MartyParty’s analysis, clear commodity classification may also encourage greater institutional participation, particularly from funds that are restricted from investing in assets deemed securities. 

Perpetual futures contracts — a crypto‑native product widely used outside the United States — could also evolve. With CFTC registration, US‑based perpetual products might emerge with stronger consumer protections, greater transparency around funding rates, and tighter safeguards against manipulation. 

Greater regulatory clarity could also reduce discrepancies between spot and futures markets, narrowing price gaps and stabilizing funding dynamics. At the same time, stricter leverage caps or margin requirements imposed under CFTC rules could limit the extreme levels of retail speculation currently seen on offshore platforms.

Bitcoin options markets would likely experience parallel shifts. The expert asserts that a clearer regulatory framework could encourage the development of additional US‑regulated options venues offering both physically settled and cash‑settled contracts tied to Bitcoin futures. 

Reduced enforcement uncertainty may also lower implied volatility premiums, potentially making options more affordable for hedging and speculative strategies. 

Institutional investors, in particular, could more confidently deploy advanced strategies — including collars and straddles — if Bitcoin’s commodity status is firmly established.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Американский оператор криптоматов Bitcoin Depot объявил о введении обязательного предъявления удостоверения личности для всех транзакций на фоне усиления регуляторного контроля и роста случаев отмывания средств через криптовалюты.

Член Палаты представителей штата Мичиган Мэтт Мэддок (Matt Maddock), состоящий в Республиканской партии, представил законопроект, разрешающий госслужащим получать заработную плату в биткоине и других криптовалютах на выбор.

Ark Invest has been putting real money where its mouth is. In a single day — February 12 — the firm snapped up shares across three separate companies tied to the crypto space.

According to trading disclosures, Ark purchased 212,314 shares of Bitmine worth roughly $4.2 million, 74,323 shares of Bullish valued at about $2.4 million, and 174,767 shares of Robinhood totaling nearly $12.4 million.

These weren’t small, cautious moves. They were deliberate bets made during a stretch when Bitcoin has been losing ground.

The Numbers Tell An Uncomfortable Truth

Bitcoin is down 26% so far this year. Gold, by comparison, has climbed 19% over the same period. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was changing hands at $63,200 while gold traded at around $3,180 per troy ounce.

Those figures don’t exactly support the case for dumping the old safe haven in favor of the new one — at least not right now. The gap between what Cathie Wood believes and what the market is actually doing has never been more visible.

Wood isn’t backing down. In a recent Bloomberg interview, the Ark Invest founder called Bitcoin “hands down” better than gold — a strong claim for an asset that has spent most of this year sliding.

Cathie Wood: Bitcoin is “hands down” better than Gold. pic.twitter.com/38LYF4IcaF

— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDaily) February 23, 2026

Her argument isn’t built on this month’s price chart. It’s built on where she thinks money is headed over the next decade. Reports say she views Bitcoin as a hedge that works in both inflationary and deflationary conditions, a flexibility she believes gold cannot match in the same way.

Younger Money Is Moving Differently

Part of Wood’s conviction rests on who is doing the buying — and who isn’t. Institutional exposure to Bitcoin is still being built out, she noted, while younger investors are increasingly choosing digital assets over physical bullion.

Gold’s buyer base is mature and well established. Bitcoin’s is still forming. That distinction matters to Wood because it suggests the bulk of Bitcoin’s demand hasn’t arrived yet. Early adoption, in her reading, means there’s still a long runway ahead.

Ark’s portfolio reflects that view. Bullish has climbed to the ninth-largest holding in the firm’s ARKF fund, carrying a 3.4% weighting valued at close to $30 million.

Ark also holds positions in Block, Circle, and Coinbase — a collection of bets that together paint a picture of a firm fully committed to the idea that crypto-linked companies will be worth far more in the years ahead.

A Long Game In A Short-Term Market

The tension Wood is navigating is real. Gold is winning 2025 so far. Bitcoin is not. But Ark’s buying activity suggests the firm sees that gap not as a reason to pull back, but as a window.

Reports note that Wood and her team remain focused on adoption curves and structural shifts rather than quarterly returns.

Featured image from Kanchanara on Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Сооснователь и управляющий партнер платформы QCP Capital Дариус Сит (Darius Sit) заявил, что биткоин не проигрывает золоту, и сравнивать эти активы друг с другом нельзя из-за разных механизмов ликвидности.

Федеральная прокуратура США конфисковала более $61 млн в стейблкоинах USDT, которые, по данным следствия, связаны с разветвленной сетью мошенников, использовавших фейковые криптоинвестиции.

В 2025 году крупные инвесторы накопили около 829 000 BTC, что свидетельствует о росте институционального спроса и укреплении статуса биткоина как зрелого актива, сообщили аналитики финансовой компании River.

As congressional momentum behind the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act slows, the Blockchain Association has stepped forward with its own proposal aimed at shaping the next phase of digital asset regulation in the United States.

On Tuesday, the Washington-based nonprofit — which represents more than 125 crypto companies — released a document titled Digital Asset Tax Principles. 

The framework is intended to guide lawmakers as they revisit tax policy for digital assets amid broader regulatory discussions. The association has also participated in White House meetings over the past month related to the CLARITY Act.

Blockchain Association’s Proposal

In announcing the framework, Summer Mersinger, Chief Executive Officer of the Blockchain Association, said lawmakers must ensure that any tax legislation reflects the economic realities of how digital assets function. 

She emphasized that tax rules should be practical for both taxpayers and regulators, adding that the group’s recommendations are designed to provide clarity while reinforcing US competitiveness in the global digital economy.

The principles outlined in the document focus heavily on making crypto taxation workable in practice. One major recommendation is the creation of a meaningful de minimis exemption for small digital asset transactions, which would ease compliance burdens for everyday users. 

The association also proposes that stablecoins be treated as cash for tax purposes, arguing that such treatment would prevent disproportionate reporting requirements for routine payments.

Another key theme is functional consistency. The group argues that economically similar activities should be taxed similarly, regardless of the technical structure behind them. 

For example, it recommends that mining and staking rewards be treated as self-created property, taxable only when the tokens are sold or otherwise disposed of, and sourced to the owner’s residence.

Crypto Tax Plan

The framework also addresses economic ownership, urging lawmakers to allow nonrecognition treatment for transactions that do not materially change a taxpayer’s economic exposure. 

In addition, the association highlights privacy and safety concerns, advocating for reporting requirements that achieve legitimate enforcement goals without unnecessarily compromising taxpayer privacy.

Global competitiveness is another pillar of the proposal. The Blockchain Association suggests implementing a safe harbor for foreign individuals trading on US exchanges and adopting policies that encourage digital asset activity to remain onshore rather than move abroad. 

It also calls for anti-abuse provisions that close wash sale loopholes while preserving the ability of Americans to use digital assets in everyday transactions. Further recommendations aim to improve access and flexibility within the tax system. 

Currently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) classifies crypto as property rather than currency. As a result, most crypto-related activity falls into one of two categories: capital gains or ordinary income. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

A7A5 задуман как инструмент работы с рублевой ликвидностью в криптоиндустрии: его можно хранить в личном кошельке, переводить между адресами и использовать внутри сервисов на блокчейне без обращения к банковской инфраструктуре.

Компания Meta, возглавляемая Марком Цукербергом (Mark Zuckerberg), готовится к возвращению на рынок стейблкоинов во второй половине года, сообщают СМИ со ссылкой на источники.

В Южной Корее 30-летнего мужчину обвиняют в попытке отравить бизнес‑партнера: по версии следствия, подозреваемый добавил в кофе компаньона пестицид. Причина — большие убытки в криптовалютных инвестициях.

The crypto market remains under pressure as Bitcoin and major altcoins continue to lose key support levels, reinforcing a cautious tone across digital assets. Momentum has weakened in recent weeks, with price action struggling to stabilize after the correction that began in October 2025. While intermittent rebounds have occurred, they have largely failed to restore confidence, leaving sentiment fragile and volatility elevated. Investors appear increasingly selective, deploying capital carefully rather than aggressively accumulating risk assets.

A recent CryptoQuant report highlights a critical structural factor behind this weakness: limited incoming liquidity. According to the analysis, the absence of sustained capital inflows has prevented the market from transitioning into a clear recovery phase. Broader macro conditions also appear unsupportive in the near term. Federal Reserve member Christopher Waller noted that strong February labor market data could justify maintaining the current interest rate stance, an environment that historically constrains risk-on capital flows.

As liquidity tightens, capital rotation dynamics are becoming more pronounced. Funds are increasingly shifting toward equities and commodities, partly driven by continued expansion in the artificial intelligence sector and the persistent strength of precious metals. This redistribution of capital suggests crypto markets may remain in a defensive posture until broader liquidity conditions improve.

Stablecoin Outflows Signal Liquidity Drain Across Crypto Markets

The report explains that liquidity dynamics within crypto markets are often reflected through stablecoin flows, which act as a proxy for deployable capital. When stablecoin reserves rise on exchanges, it typically signals increasing readiness to enter risk positions. Conversely, sustained outflows tend to indicate capital withdrawal or reduced trading appetite.

On Binance, stablecoin reserves have been declining steadily since November 13, with nearly $10 billion withdrawn as investors gradually reduce market exposure. These reserves, which generally fluctuate based on investor demand, have fallen from approximately $50.9 billion to $41.4 billion — a contraction of about 18.6%. This shift suggests a measurable reduction in immediately available liquidity across one of the industry’s largest trading venues.

As stablecoins continue to flow out, Binance’s reserve levels have now returned to those last observed around October 2024. Although the platform still accounts for roughly 64% of total stablecoin reserves across centralized exchanges, changes at this scale tend to influence broader market liquidity conditions.

If this trend persists, price stability may remain elusive. Historically, renewed stablecoin inflows have coincided with improving risk appetite and stronger price support. Therefore, a sustained reversal in stablecoin flows will likely be necessary before a more durable recovery phase can develop.

Total Crypto Market Cap Tests Key Structural Support

The total crypto market capitalization chart shows a clear transition from expansion to consolidation following the peak reached during the 2025 rally. After climbing toward the $4 trillion region, total market cap entered a sustained corrective phase, gradually compressing toward the $2.1–$2.2 trillion zone. This decline reflects broad risk-off behavior affecting both Bitcoin and altcoins, rather than an isolated asset-specific retracement.

From a structural perspective, the market has recently broken below the 50-week moving average and is now approaching the 100-week average, while the 200-week moving average continues to trend upward beneath price. Historically, this configuration often characterizes mid-cycle corrections rather than full structural reversals, although confirmation requires stabilization above longer-term support levels.

Volume patterns also suggest distribution rather than aggressive accumulation. Selling spikes during declines appear more pronounced than buying reactions, indicating persistent caution among market participants. The absence of strong follow-through rallies reinforces the idea that liquidity remains constrained.

If the $2 trillion region fails to hold, downside volatility could increase due to thinner liquidity conditions. Conversely, stabilization above current levels combined with renewed inflows — particularly through stablecoins — would be the first indication that broader market confidence is gradually returning.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Майнер-одиночка добыл блок №938092 в сети Биткоина, получив награду 3,125 BTC (более $200 000). На аренду вычислительной мощности он потратил около $75, сообщили в майнинговой компании Braiins.

Jameson Lopp is escalating his criticism of BIP-110, arguing the proposal could trigger a disruptive Bitcoin chain split while failing to stop the behavior it is meant to curb. In a Feb. 23 post, Lopp frames the plan as a consensus-layer response to a policy and cultural dispute around transaction “spam,” with risks that extend well beyond mempool debates.

BIP-110 is pitched as a soft fork led by Luke Dashjr that would temporarily restrict arbitrary data in transactions. Lopp summarizes it as adding seven new transaction-validity restrictions, including limits on where data can be placed and constraints on certain script behavior, but says the tradeoffs are far more severe than supporters admit. He calls the proposal “reckless and doomed to fail,” setting the tone for a post that is less a technical explainer than a warning about governance and coordination risk.

Why Lopp Thinks The Activation Path Is Dangerous For Bitcoin

The core of Lopp’s argument is not just what BIP-110 changes, but how it tries to activate. He points to the proposal’s 55% miner-signaling threshold for a user-activated soft fork and says that low bar materially increases the probability of two competing chains if the ecosystem is not aligned.

He also stresses that BIP-110 nodes would reject non-compliant blocks outright, which raises coordination risk compared with soft forks that old nodes can continue to follow without enforcement conflicts.

Lopp is especially pointed on the mandatory activation posture at block height 961,632. In one of the sharpest passages, he writes: “This is not a neutral, low-drama deployment posture. It’s dogmatic bullying. […] you cannot pretend it’s low-risk.” He ties that warning to a broader point: even if one views UASF tactics as legitimate, the proposal’s design increases the odds of a messy failure mode if miners, exchanges, wallets, and infrastructure providers do not converge in time.

He also pushes back on comparisons to 2017, noting that the UASF many people cite in the SegWit era never actually had to run to the edge because SegWit activated via miner signaling instead. That distinction matters in Lopp’s framing, because BIP-110 proponents are, in his view, leaning on a historical precedent that did not test the exact scenario they now describe as manageable.

Another major section of Lopp’s post targets the claim that BIP-110 has meaningful grassroots momentum. He argues that raw node counts (roughly 20% run Knots) are a weak proxy for consensus because signaling is cheap, node operation can be low-cost, and Tor addresses are “effectively zero” cost to create at scale. He publishes a breakdown of reachable nodes and highlights the higher Tor-to-IPv4 ratio among Knots and BIP-110 signaling nodes as a reason to treat node-count narratives cautiously.

On mining support, Lopp says the gap is more straightforward. At the time of publication, he writes miner signaling was “precisely […] zero,” and he cites public opposition from F2Pool while arguing miners have limited incentive to back a proposal that could reduce fee revenue. That point reinforces his broader thesis that BIP-110 supporters are overestimating social signaling and underestimating the role of economically significant actors in Bitcoin upgrade politics.

Lopp’s post ultimately reads as a warning that the immediate issue is not simply whether BIP-110 activates, but what the campaign reveals about where Bitcoin’s internal dispute over neutrality, censorship resistance, and block-space usage is heading. Even a failed fork push, in his framing, can still impose real costs by forcing operators and businesses to plan around low-probability but high-impact coordination failure.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $62,791.

Bitcoin has remained under sustained pressure since losing the $70,000 level, entering a corrective phase that has gradually pushed price lower while defining a consolidation range just above the $63,000 zone. Momentum has weakened noticeably, with buyers struggling to regain control and volatility compressing as the market searches for direction. This range-bound behavior reflects a transitional phase rather than a confirmed trend reversal, as traders weigh macro uncertainty, liquidity conditions, and broader risk sentiment across digital assets.

Amid this backdrop, Bitcoin mining difficulty has recently rebounded following a brief dip. Mining difficulty adjusts roughly every two weeks to maintain consistent block production timing. When difficulty rises, it typically signals that more computational power — or hashrate — has returned to the network. Temporary drops can occur when external factors, such as weather disruptions, energy constraints, or operational shutdowns, force some miners offline.

The recent rebound, therefore, suggests renewed miner participation and sustained network resilience. Greater difficulty often indicates confidence among miners in Bitcoin’s long-term viability, as maintaining operations becomes more competitive and capital-intensive. However, it can also increase cost pressure on less efficient miners, potentially influencing short-term supply dynamics if some are forced to liquidate holdings to cover expenses.

Mining Difficulty Rebound Signals Network Resilience

The recent dip in mining difficulty was largely weather-driven rather than structurally bearish. Severe winter storms temporarily disrupted energy supply in key mining regions, forcing portions of the network’s hashrate offline. As a result, the previous difficulty adjustment registered a short-lived decline, reflecting reduced computational power securing the network at that moment.

However, the disruption proved brief. According to on-chain data, the latest adjustment reversed the drop and pushed difficulty back to new highs, confirming that miners rapidly restored operations. Network hashrate has rebounded toward its prior range, signaling that the infrastructure impact was temporary rather than systemic. Block production times, which had briefly slowed, normalized quickly as computational power returned.

This rebound carries structural implications. Mining difficulty rising after a shock indicates that capital remains committed to the network despite price weakness below $70,000. It also suggests that the broader mining ecosystem retains operational resilience, even under adverse conditions.

At the same time, greater difficulty increases production costs, particularly for less efficient operators. If Bitcoin’s price remains compressed near the $63,000–$65,000 range, margin pressure could intensify for high-cost miners. Nonetheless, the swift recovery in difficulty reinforces the view that network fundamentals remain intact despite short-term volatility.

Bitcoin Tests Key Support As Downtrend Pressure Persists

Bitcoin’s weekly chart shows a clear deterioration in momentum after losing the $70,000 level, with price now consolidating near the $63,000 zone. The structure reflects a sequence of lower highs since the late-2025 peak above $120,000, indicating that sellers remain dominant despite intermittent stabilization attempts.

Technically, Bitcoin is trading below the 50-week and 100-week moving averages, both of which have shifted from support into dynamic resistance. This configuration typically signals a transitional or corrective phase rather than a confirmed bullish continuation. Meanwhile, the 200-week moving average — currently much lower — remains the long-term structural support reference.

Volume patterns also suggest caution. Selling activity increased during the latest decline, pointing to distribution rather than simple low-liquidity drift. However, recent candles show some compression in volatility, implying that the market may be attempting to establish a short-term base around current levels.

From a structural perspective, the $60,000–$63,000 region now acts as immediate support. A sustained break below it could expose deeper retracement zones toward the mid-$50,000 area. Conversely, reclaiming the $70,000 threshold would be necessary to restore bullish momentum and shift sentiment toward recovery.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com